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The current site of the palace has been in use since Roman times, as excavations in the gardens testify. On this hill, the Romans built temples to several deities, from the Flora to Quirinus, after whom the hill was named. During the reign of Constantine the last complex of Roman baths was built here, as the statues of the twins Castor and Pollux taming the horses decorating the fountain in the square testify. The Quirinal, being the highest hill in Rome, was very sought after and became a popular spot for the Roman patricians, who built their luxurious villas. An example of those are the remains of a villa in the Quirinal gardens, where a mosaic, part of the old floor has been found.[citation needed]

The palace, located on the Via del Quirinale and facing onto the Piazza del Quirinale, was built in 1583 by Pope Gregory XIII as a papal summer residence. The pope wanted to find a location which would have been far away from the humidity and stench coming from the river Tiber and the unhealthy conditions of the Lateran Palace, therefore the Quirinal hill was one of the most suitable places in Rome. On the site, there was already a small villa owned by the Carafa family and rented to Luigi d'Este. The pope commissioned the architect Ottaviano Mascherino to build a palace with porticoed parallel wings and an internal court. The project was not fully completed due to the death of the pope in 1585 but it is still recognisable in the north part of the court, especially in the double loggia facade, topped by the panoramic Torre dei venti (tower of the winds) or Torrino. To the latter, a bell tower was added according to a project by Carlo Maderno and Francesco Borromini.[citation needed]

The palace is composed of the main building, which is built around the majestic courtyard, with the most beautiful halls of the complex environments that serve as representative of the Presidency of the Republic, while the offices and apartments of the head of state are housed in buildings at the bottom of the Manica Lunga, on the long side via del Quirinale, the top of which lie the opulent imperial apartments, which were specially arranged, decorated and furnished for two visits of Kaiser Wilhelm II (in 1888 and 1893) and which now houses the monarchs or foreign heads of state visiting the President of the Republic.[4] The palace, in its totality has 1,200 rooms.

Under the gardens, through a trap door you can reach the archaeological excavations that have unearthed the remains of the original temple to the god Quirinus and some insulae of the imperial age.[7][8][9]

^Resulting, so, much larger than some of their "similar", as, for example, the gardens of Élysée, only 1.5 hectares, while those of Hôtel Matignon, residence of the French prime minister, are of 3 hectares and those of White House of 7.3 hectares, beaten by Buckingham Palace, with 17 hectares of parkland.